Josh Hawley Is Going to Need a Minute With All This

Maybe you scrolled over to Sen. Josh Hawley's Twitter feed to 1.) ensure that big tech hasn't succeeded in stifling him and 2.) see how our very grown-up big boy is processing the news that Donald Trump lost and Joe Biden won the presidential election.

Here's how that's going.

The media do not get to determine who the president is. The people do. When all lawful votes have been counted, recounts finished, and allegations of fraud addressed, we will know who the winner is

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 7, 2020

So, yes, the graduate of Stanford University and Yale law school is correct in that the media doesn't determine who wins the presidency. But while journalists are not known for their math skills, the Associated Press (and other media organizations, including Fox News) did some pretty solid arithmetic in comparing the number of votes Biden was ahead in Pennsylvania versus the number left to be counted and determined Trump couldn't catch up.

So the less charitable among us might be tempted to drag Hawley for blaming the media for ... math. But everyone processes grief in their own way. Hawley probably just needs a minute with this.

We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at doyle.murphy@riverfronttimes.com or follow on Twitter at @DoyleMurphy.

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